How much you looking to spend Werm?
Even mid priced Japanese blades ($100-ish) will knock the socks off of any high end US made brand for a fraction of the cost. High end stainless steels like VG-10, R2/SG2, and/or Ginsan #3 will hold a fantastic edge and can get wicked sharp with a good whetstone or two with a strop.
That said, there is nothing wrong with European knives like Wusthof, Sebatier, etc. They generally have slightly softer steel (58-ish HRC vs 61-63 HRC), so will be a little easier to sharpen vs. Japanese steels, but won’t hold an edge as long. My BIGGEST gripe with European chef knives is that many have a bolster at the rear of the blade which makes them no fun to sharpen with a whetstone.
If I had to recommend a dollar for dollar great value in a chef knife it would have to be the Takamura VG-10 series. Don’t overthink the number of knives you need to fill a “set”. Lots of the block sets you can buy have way more knives than you actually need. A good chef knife/gyuto and/or santoku for your “general purpose”, a short 5.5″-6″ santoku, and a 4″-ish paring/utility knife will do 95% of what you need in the kitchen. From there I’d just fill in whatever bread knife and steak knifes you like.
